


How We Do

by Burgie



Series: 12 Days of Ficsmas 2017 [5]
Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-17
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2019-02-16 01:35:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13043787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: Honey's punishment for attempting to sabotage Christmas is... quite strange.





	How We Do

Honey stepped out of his shelter into the snowy landscape of the Magical Christmas Market and took a deep breath of the icy air. He could do this. After all, he deserved this bizarre punishment.

After the horse had arrested Honey and delivered him to Santa (quite literally, his fur had been soaked with horse slobber afterwards), Santa had helped him to come to terms with what Christmas was all about. But Honey had still been left with some questions. Most prominent being…

“So I’m not going to be punished?” Honey had asked as he’d stood there on the snow, his little heart galloping like the horse had galloped after him.

“Oh ho ho no,” said Santa, beaming down at him. “You will be punished, but I believe in learning from punishments. So in addition to being placed on the naughty list, you will also be given a task.”

“And what’s that?” Honey had asked, tangling his claws together into knots.

“Krangle, Zingle, Pongle, I have a task for the three of you as well,” Santa had said, looking warmly at the other helpers. They’d stood to attention.

“And, uh, w-what might that be?” Pongle had asked. “A-are we going to be his prison wardens or something?”

“Close,” Santa had said. “I am charging you three with showing Honey what Christmas is really about. Surely, if you explain things to him, he’ll learn that different people celebrate Christmas differently, and that just because someone celebrates differently, it doesn’t mean that it’s not Christmas.”

“I can teach him how to enjoy curry cookies,” Krangle had said, while Zingle had had stars in his eyes.

“I can finally have a test subject for my designs,” Zingle had cooed, clasping his hands together.

“Well, another pair of hands will help make things safer,” Pongle had said. “Just stay away from the frozen lake, okay?”

Now, Honey headed over to Pongle first, knowing that the little helper would undoubtedly want him there early. Besides, Pongle was currently guiding a sleigh in with glow sticks, so he’d probably need all the help he could get.

“Uh, hi,” said Honey when he arrived. “I’m here for my punishment?”

“Good!” said Pongle, flashing him a smile before he got back to his task. “You can, um… burn those yule goats over there.” He pointed to a pile of innocent-looking straw goats. Honey was confused.

“Why should I burn them?” asked Honey. “They’re decorative, and I’m sure a lot of time went into making them.”

“Because they’re always causing mischief,” said Pongle. He finished guiding the sleigh in, then turned around so he could speak to Honey. “Besides, some humans burn the yule goats for Christmas as a tradition. I’ve heard that some cities set up huge yule goats, just to set fire to them.”

“But why?” asked Honey.

“I actually don’t know,” said Pongle with a shrug. “But it’s useful for me to stop them from causing trouble and it’s… kind of fun to do traditional things like that.”

“It just sounds so violent,” said Honey.

“Well, so is crashing a sleigh,” said Pongle. Honey had nothing to say to that. “Good, at least you feel bad. Now, help me move these safety rails up to the top of the ice pillar, I really don’t want anyone falling off and breaking every bone in their body…”

When Honey got back down (he wanted to take the slide but Pongle grabbed him and dragged him back down the winding slope instead), Gruggle was waiting for them with a squirming sack.

“Here, they got into my sleigh again,” said Gruggle, tossing the sack at Pongle’s hooves, and Pongle nodded as he picked it up, then carried the bag over to a bare stretch of snow. There, he set the bag down.

“Fetch me some firewood,” said Pongle, looking grimly at the bag. Honey did as he was bid, heading off into the woods and soon returning with a pile of firewood. Pongle built it up into a little firepit, then lit it with a lighter. As the fire caught on, it reflected in his eyes.

“Wait, you’re not going to burn them all now, are you?” asked Honey, alarmed as Pongle lifted up the bag.

“Well, why not?” said Pongle. “They need to be burned.”

Fortunately, as soon as the goats fell into the flames, they stopped moving, so Honey relaxed just a little. It was still strange, though.

“I don’t think I like this tradition,” said Honey, but he had to admit that Pongle looked happier than he had all day, grinning gleefully as the flames devoured the goats.

“You don’t have to like it, but as long as you respect it, it’s okay,” said Pongle. He gestured with his head towards the village. “Go on, I think Krangle’s calling you.”

“There you are,” said Krangle when Honey finally arrived. The cookie helper quickly dragged Honey into the kitchen. “So, I know I love cooking with all sorts of spices, but I wonder what would happen if I added a little honey to the mix, what do you think?”

“Uh, what?” asked Honey, his heart racing again. Was Krangle going to bake him into cookies?

“Get it? Because you’re going to help me make them,” said Krangle, and laughed. “Ah, you’re a cute one.”

“B-but I don’t know how to cook,” said Honey. “You’re a good cook though, even though you make the cookies wrong.”

“Hey, who’s the chef here?” asked Krangle, frowning at him.

“You,” Honey murmured.

“That’s what I thought,” said Krangle, nodding. “Now, I know it might be traditional to bake gingerbread with cinnamon, but I thought I’d add a little dash of curry powder to the mix. Then you swapped my spices.”

“Sorry,” said Honey. “Gingerbread is supposed to have cinnamon in it, not curry.”

“Hey, the only thing gingerbread shouldn’t have in it is cayenne pepper,” said Krangle. “Although, that might work in Christmas cake…”

“But Pongle said tradition is good,” said Honey.

“Well, yeah, some traditions are good,” said Krangle. “But if you think outside the box, sometimes good things happen. Like how Santa thought outside the box and hired our kind instead of traditional elves.”

“I guess…” said Honey, looking down at the table in front of him, which was spread with various spices and half-finished gingerbread dough. There were gingerbread cookies cooling and being decorated on the other side of the kitchen.

“So let’s get to baking,” said Krangle. “Here, you can be my taste-tester. Try these, they just came out of the oven.” He led Honey over to the ‘finished’ side, then pointed out the different flavours. Mint, chocolate, caramel, strawberry, curry, peanut butter, mustard…

“The curry has a nice kick, and the mint is cool,” said Honey, taking turns nibbling at the different cookies. “But the mustard is…” He pulled a face, wondering if he could politely spit the disgusting thing out.

“Yeah, it makes the dough too damp anyway,” said Krangle. “I wonder if chili would go down well.”

“I’ve read in the newspapers that some humans put chili in chocolate,” said Honey. “And Vegemite.”

“Vegemite? Ew! Yuck! I don’t know how the Australians can eat that stuff!” said Krangle, pulling faces of his own. 

“I don’t know, maybe it’s tradition,” said Honey. “Their tradition.”

“Ugh, well they can keep that one,” said Krangle. “Anyway, I’ll definitely keep in mind the chili idea. But I think Zingle wants you.”

And, sure enough, there was Zingle, whistling for Honey and gesturing for him to get over there.

“Okay, thanks for… the cookies,” said Honey.

“Anytime,” said Krangle, waving him off.

Zingle jumped Honey as soon as he got over there, causing Honey to squeal.

“Oh, finally, I’ve been waiting to get my hands on you all day! Those other two are so greedy, smh,” said Zingle, causing Honey to blink in confusion.

“Um,” said Honey, confused.

“But don’t worry, I’ve got you now, so you won’t have to look like a hobo any longer!” Zingle declared. “Now, let’s get you dressed.”

Getting dressed by Zingle wouldn’t have been so bad if he didn’t insist on taking a photo of every outfit and then taking ages to decide on which filter to use. Honey stood on a stump, sighing as he waited for Zingle to decide which filter best complimented this little elf outfit.

“You look absolutely gorge,” Zingle cooed, putting his phone away. “So, which outfit do you like best?”

“I liked my green,” said Honey. Zingle pouted.

“But you looked like a scrub,” said Zingle. “Christmas is about looking fab at every opportunity, after all, if it wasn’t, why would so many humans put nice clothes on their wishlists?”

“Nice clothes make nice presents,” said Honey, getting down off the stump and changing out of his outfit and back into his old one behind some crates. “But on Christmas, the idea is to look as tacky as possible.”

“I’d rather die than wear an ugly Christmas sweater,” Zingle declared.

“But it’s fun,” said Honey. “I know that it doesn’t look good but… sometimes it’s fun to do those things. Just stop trying to glamourise Christmas, okay?” Zingle sniffed.

“I’ll try,” said Zingle. “For you. But at least let me help you not look like so much of a little ragamuffin, cute as that look is.”

“Alright, fine,” said Honey.

As Honey finally made his way home after Zingle had created for him the perfect outfit (it borrowed parts of the elf outfit in the bells but was still a similar colour, only the shirt was checked now), he felt dead tired. Who knew that putting up with his three ‘punishers’ would be so exhausting? But he was also happy, because he’d begun to understand, just a little, why different people enjoyed different traditions.

Still, though, Honey was more than happy to curl up in his shelter with a hot chocolate and traditional gingerbread, far away from everyone. It was nice and quiet here, and he could finally relax.

**Author's Note:**

> Yes I know that that the burning of the yule goats isn't technically tradition but Pongle doesn't know that.


End file.
